Drawing of the Day: A Costume Design for Judy, 1861-1934

The Victoria & Albert Museum

What might Judy (Mr. Punch’s lovely bride) look like were she a human lady? Well, here’s your answer. She’s stunning, yes?

Here, from the beautiful George Speaight Punch and Judy Archive at the V&A, we see a costume design for an actor playing Judy. Why? No one knows anymore. The only explanation for this drawing of pencil and watercolor on card is an inscription stating that it was designed by Clarkson Costumes ca. 1861 to 1934. Hmmm… That’s rather a large time range there.


We see that Judy is carrying a stick in her left hand (as one does when married to Mr. Punch) and dragging a doll with her right hand. I would like to interject that the “doll” is actually meant to represent the famed, embattled baby in whatever human version of the Comical Tragedy (or Tragical Comedy) of Mr. Punch for which this costume was designed. It’s all very mysterious. But, that’s the way to do it. 

Drawing of the Day: Punchinello with Dumpling or Fritter, c. 1796-1770

The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

From the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, this drawing of pen and brown ink has been accented with a sepia wash.  Beneath this, traces of the original sketch of pencil and black chalk can be seen.  

Dating to about 1796-1770, this is the work of a member of  the Circle of famed Italian artist  Giovanni Battista Tiepolo (Italian, Venice 1696–1770 Madrid).  Entitled "Punchinello with Dumpling or Fritter."  I think that's a lovely idea.

Tiepolo and his followers often depicted Punchinello in various situations, often showing multiple Punchinellos or whole families of them at a time.

Drawing of the Day: Homage to the Queen, 1953

Homage to the Queen
Design for the Coronation Ballet
Oliver Messel, 1953
The Victoria & Albert Museum

“Homage to the Queen” was choreographed by Frederick Ashton as the Sadler's Wells Ballet tribute for the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II on 2 June, 1953. The production was performed at the Royal Opera House. We can tell from production notes which were made at the time that it appears that the production designer, Oliver Hilary Sambourne Messel, (1904 - 1978 ) conceived the ballet opening with an extravagant procession, incorporating both English folk and mythological figures which would close with an Apotheosis showing Elizabeth I as Queen of the Past, handing the Imperial orb to Elizabeth II as Queen of the Present. At the end of the opening, the image of the Queen would be left, as Messel put it, “surrounded with all the virtues and gifts.”

Messel, one of Britain’s leading theatrical designers of the 1930s through 1950s, envisioned this spectacle to be something like a 17th century Jacobean court masque in the manner of Inigo Jones and produced “lavish, fantastical designs” which managers of the ballet noted, “would have cost more than his sets and costumes for the main ballet.” Because of the potential expense, the stage procession of the homage was reduced to a simple entry for the queens of the four elements - Earth, Water, Fire and Air - and their attendant. Messel still got his way—partially. After the ballet, an apotheosis is performed wherein the spirit of the first Elizabeth passes the orb to the second. Here we see one of the storyboard images which Messel produced for his original concept of the homage ballet. This image shows the lion and the unicorn of the Royal arms. The sketch shows the two figures, dancing, facing each other, and carrying flowers which were to be presented to the Queen.

Lord Snowdon, onetime husband of Princess Margaret, and Oliver Messel's nephew, inherited Messel's theatrical designs and other artifacts. According to the V&A, “The designs were briefly stored in a disused chapel in Kensington Palace before being housed at the V&A from 1981 on indefinite loan. The V&A Theatre Museum purchased the Oliver Messel collection from Lord Snowdon in 2005.”

Masterpiece of the Week: The Russell Square Puppet Show, 1827

Click on image to enlarge
View of Russell Square with a Puppet Show
Thomas Hosmer Shepherd, 1827
The British Museum

This drawing of pen and brown wash on paper dates to 1827 and is the work of Thomas Hosmer Shepherd. The scene gives us a view of Russell Square with the statue of the Duke of Bedford prominent on the left. 

In the square, a crowd has gathered to watch a puppet show. The bottler draws attention to the show by beating a large drum. His efforts clearly work because we see that a mother will two children are about to join the crowd.

This drawing was once part of the collection of Francis Russell, 5th Duke of Bedford. It gives us a rare topographical representation of a part of London which has changed considerably over time.

Drawing of the Day: Old Cottages at East Bergholt, 1940

Old Cottages at East Bergholt
Algernon Newton, 1940
The Victoria & Albert Musuem

This 1930 charcoal drawing is part of the “Recording Britain” initiative of World War II which served to capture the changing face of the British landscape.

The scene depicts East Bergholt, John Constable's home—an almost hallowed spot for landscape painter Algernon Newton (1880-1968). Newton had a particular affinity for “Constable Country.” While others in the Recording Britain program attempted to mask the encroaching passage of time on the landscape, Newton embraced it and made sure not to conceal modern marks such as the telephone poles and wires which we see to the left of the cottage.

Mr. Punch in the Arts: An Antique Drawing by George Scharf

Punch & Judy Show
George Scharf
The British Museum

Drawn from life, this pencil and watercolor sketch shows a Punch & Judy show being performed on the street much to the delight of those watching.  In the highly decorative tent, we can see Mr. Punch with his famous slapstick, aiming for a rather frantic Judy.  Scharf’s depiction of the tent is quite authentic.  We can see the evolution of such a Punch & Judy booth from when this was drawn in the 1800’s to a version from 1912 (below).   Since this was drawn from life, we’re led to believe that the booth’s signage, “Our Endavour is to Please” is an accurate transcription of a misspelling on the part of the “Professor.” 



Punch & Judy Booth
1912-1962
The Museum of Childhood at
The Victoria & Albert Museum



Drawing of the Day: Costume Design for 'Babes in the Wood,' 1907

Costume Design
Attilio Comelli
1907
The Victoria & Albert Museum

Here we see a costume design by Attilio Comelli for the character of the Jester in the 1907-1908 play Babes in the Wood which ran at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane.  This production featured characters from the legend of Robin Hood.

In this production, the Jester was played by a woman, so, the drawing for the costume design depicts a female figure wearing a red, orange and purple jester's outfit.

The drawing was finished in 1907 prior to the debut of the production.

Drawing of the Day: Fairies Rescuing a Bird, 1920-1925

Click on image to enlarge.
"Fairies Rescuing a Bird"
Margaret Tempest, 1920-1925
The Victoria & Albert Museum

Margaret Tempest (1892-1982), the celebrated English illustrator, began her career in the 1920s and became known as the creator of the beloved children’s book characters “Little Grey Rabbit” and “Fuzzypeg the Hedgehog.” The stories were written by Alison Uttley with illustrations by Margaret Tempest whose drawings graved the first thirty stories from 1929 until 1970.

Uttley and Tempest often debated between themselves about which of them could take the most credit for the success of the characters. However, it wasn’t the usual artistic struggle. In fact, each credited the other for the creation of the characters who had become household names.

Most agree, however, that the stories were given a special kind of life because of Tempest’s subtle watercolor drawings.

Here’s an interesting example of Margaret Tempest’s delicate work. In this watercolor, pen and ink drawing, we see fairies attempting to rescue a bird from a basket work cage. The artist’s gentle hand shows in the tones of the fairies’ wings and her ability to capture a moment of effort makes the painting seem as if we have been given a glance into a new world.

The drawing dates between 1920 and 1925. 

Drawing of the Day: Five Grotesque Heads, 1646

Five Grotesque Heads
Wenceslaus Hollar
England, 1646
Crown Copyright
The Royal Collection 
Image Courtesy of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II

Born in Prague, Bohemian etcher Wenceslaus Hollar (1607-1677) spent much of his life in England. There, he attracted the attention of wealthy patrons and noblemen, including Thomas Howard 21st Earl of Arundel and the Royal Court. During the English Civil War, his income naturally suffered, but he created some of the most gripping records of the war.

This study by Hollar shows his penchant for the theatrical and grotesque. Created in 1646, the original drawing for the published etching depicts of five men. An older man who is clean-shaven is crowned with a wreath of oak leaves. Another man has his head tilted back and opens his mouth in a horrid yawn. A bald man is seen in the lower background. On the right, a laughing man is depicted and the composition is balanced by the profile of a man with a headband.

This sort of grotesquerie was quite in vogue in the early Seventeenth Century. Grotesque figures were the subjects of many a medium from porcelain to architecture. Hollar shows us his masterful hand and ability to show both motion and emotion while also satiating the taste for the horrible which was prevalent in arts of the era.

Drawing of the Day: The Corn Rose, 1680

Page from the Florilegium of Alexander Marshal
c. 1680
Crown Copyright
The Royal Collection
Image Courtesy of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II

The delicate drawing, dating to 1680, is the work of Alexander Marshal (c. 1620-82). Marshal was part of a league of “gentlemen gardeners” living in London in the Seventeenth Century. These gents looked to the cultivation of rare and exotic plants to learn about the workings of the natural world. They reveled, especially, in those plants which had been imported from the Near East and America at the start of the Seventeenth Century.

Marshal spent thirty years compiling a “florilegium” (flower book) which, in the end, contained 154 folios recording interesting and rare plants growing in the English gardens of his friends. Curiously, Marshal didn’t consider himself an artist, but his talent is evident. His florilegium is the only English flower book from the Seventeenth Century that survives. He never intended the folios to be sold or published, but rather, produced the book for the enjoyment and education of his friends.

King George IV was presented with the florilegium by an unknown party in the 1820s.

This leaf from the book features watercolors of three plants including: the Red Poppy (or Corn Rose), the Cockle and a Jacob's Ladder. The flowers are identified on the reverse.

Reverse
Alexander Marshal, 1680
The Royal Collection
Image Courtesy of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II

Unusual Artifacts: Samuel Hayward's Sketchbook, 1800

Sketchbook of Samuel Hayward
Drawn in France, 1800
The Victoria & Albert Museum

This portable sketchbook, once owned by artist John Samuel Hayward (1778-1822) (he preferred to be called “Samuel”), contains studies of landscapes, towns and figures, notes on the artist’s travels in France and on the manufacture of the floor-cloth which was Hayward's primary business. Hayward used this sketchbook to sketch rapidly from nature. It seems that Hayward, rather abstractly for his time, did not feel bound by artistic conventions in his compositions, but, instead, worked freely from observing life, using the paper as a palette to test his colors.

Hayward was the son of a floor-cloth manufacturer and later took on his father's business despite the fact that he would have preferred to become a fulltime artist. He was a friend of the celebrated watercolorist Joshua Cristall (1768-1847), who Hayward met when Cristall first worked at the calico printing works at Old Ford in London. The two young men collaborated on painting a panorama of Constantinople when Cristall (typing this name correctly is killing me since I keep, naturally, omitting the “t” and adding an “i” to the end) came to London to establish himself as a professional artist.

Though Hayward remained an amateur, he managed to be exhibited at the Royal Academy from 1798 to 1816 and was Secretary of The Sketching Society, to which he was elected in 1803. He famously made sketching trips around Britain and to France and Italy.  One of the most prolific amateur artists of his day, Hayward promoted the growing enthusiasm for working directly from nature.  This sketchbook, showing scenes of France, demonstrates that passion.

Object of the Day, Museum Edition: Familiarity Breeds Contempt, c. 1880

"Familiarity Breeds Contempt"
Joseph Clark, Nineteenth Century
Watercolor study for a larger composition.
The Victoria & Albert Museum

Ah, Joseph Clark…his name may not be immediately familiar to you, but I bet you’ve seen a print of at least one of his paintings (I assume this because, if you’re on this web site, you have some familiarity with antiques and art). Clark (1834-1926) painted many, many, many sentimental oil paintings of children, which were hungrily gobbled up by the Victorian public who had a genuine fascination with images of healthy children (mortality rate and all that, what). Clark may have been popular with the public, but, I suspect that his frequent showings at the Royal Academy were met with a few tongue clucks of “too sentimental.”

Clark was a very precise painter and, before starting any canvas, made series after series of studies, sketches and watercolor tests of the composition before working in oils. You may see that his paintings often depict very similar-looking subjects. He typically used his own family members and pets as models.

Here’s one of his many pre-painting sketches. This watercolor shows a mother and her daughter in the kitchen of their cottage. They appear to be witnessing an awkward encounter between a chicken and a curious kitten. The drawing is undated. However, it has been given an appropriate title: “Familiarity Breeds Contempt.” 

Drawing of the Day: Windsor Castle: The King's Bedroom (west elevation), 1827

Design for the Bath at the King's Bedroom, Windsor Castle
More & Seddon, 1827
Crown Copyright
The Royal Collection

Image Courtesy of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II

This drawing was returned to the Royal Collection when Queen Elizabeth II purchased it at an auction in 1971. The drawing was created by the Office of Morel & Seddon, decorators who were contracted to redecorate Windsor Castle in 1827 during the reign of King George IV.

The watercolor depicts a view of an alcove with a bath cabinet in the center. The recess is framed by curtains and backed with a mirror. It was part of the new private suite which King George IV has envisioned for himself in the central part of the east front of the castle. This part of the suite was to be hidden behind a cabinet with doors of pietra dura.

The blue silk hangings were based on some made by Grand Frères of Lyons in 1823 for the Salon des Princes at the château of Saint-Cloud. Despite the room’s handsome décor, King George IV didn’t like the finished product. He found the room unsuitable and moved to an adjacent room in 1829. The suite, however, was used by Queen Victoria and, it was in the bedroom in which Prince Albert died in 1861. 

Object of the Day, Museum Edition: A Young Professor, Nineteenth Century

Chromolithograph after an unknown artist
Nineteenth Century
The George Speaight Archive at
The Victoria & Albert Museum

I very much like this Nineteenth Century print of a beautiful drawing of a budding Punch professor. A young boy with a puppet booth carries a drum on his back. In front of him he walks his puppet, a marionette figure of Mr. Punch.

What’s interesting about this is that by the Nineteenth Century, most Punchinellos were glove puppets which were performed in the Victorian style fit-up which first comes to mind when we think of Punch & Judy. In fact, marionette Punch and Judy shows were a century out of vogue in the U.K. So, this was a sort of nod to the antique and that makes it all the more charming.

Of course, this is from the George Speaight Archive at the V&A.

The reverse shows a page from an album.

Drawing of the Day: The Fairy of the Woodland Glades Costume Design, 1945

The Fairy of the Woodland Glades
Costume Design
Oliver Messel, 1946
The Victoria & Albert Museum

The 1946 production of “The Sleeping Beauty” at The Sadler's Wells (now Royal) Ballet is considered the greatest triumph of Britain’s leading theatre designer of the mid-Twentieth Century, Oiliver Messel (1904-1978).

Messel created a feeling of a “real” world for the fantastical production. Instead of focusing on the fairytale elements, Messel depended on visual themes based on the architecture and fashions of Seventeenth to Eighteenth Century English, Spanish and French styles. The clever overall look was one of stepping back in time, but not so otherworldly that the character and action seemed false.

In the production, the good fairies arrive to visit Princess Aurora on the day of her christening. They present her with a variety of gifts. Notable, the character of “The Fairy of the Woodland Glades” offers the little princess the gift of “generosity.”

Here is Messel’s proposed costume for “The Fairy of the Woodland Glades.” This design features a train. We know from photographs of the performance that this is not the costume which was created for the show. Obviously, the design was later rejected. It is noted that Messel decided against this design since he had initially wished for all seven fairies to wear costumes with long trains. The extra fabric proved cumbersome and filled the stage so that the dancers’ movements were hindered.

Still, it’s interesting to see how the production design developed over time.

Drawing of the Day: Punchinello with Dumpling or Fritter, c. 1796-1770

The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

From the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, this drawing of pen and brown ink has been accented with a sepia wash.  Beneath this, traces of the original sketch of pencil and black chalk can be seen.  

Dating to about 1796-1770, this is the work of a member of  the Circle of famed Italian artist  Giovanni Battista Tiepolo (Italian, Venice 1696–1770 Madrid).  Entitled "Punchinello with Dumpling or Fritter."  I think that's a lovely idea.

Tiepolo and his followers often depicted Punchinello in various situations, often showing multiple Punchinellos or whole families of them at a time.

Object of the Day, Museum Edition: Guardi's "A Punch & Judy Show," 1735

The Frick Collection, New York

From the world famous Frick Collection in New York, we have this sepia ink drawing, dating to 1735, by Italian artist Paolo Guardi.

Though given the anglicized title, "A Punch & Judy Show," the drawing actually depicts a performance of a Pulcinella show--Italian's Italian puppet forebear.

The Frick Collection and Reference Library includes hundreds of important antiques and works of art.  A visit to their web site, and, if in the area to the collections themselves is a must.

Drawing of the Day: Beatrice Lillie in Auntie Mame, 1958

Beatrice Lillie as Auntie Mame
1958
The Victoria & Albert Museum

The famed Beatrice Lillie (1894-1989) was billed as "the funniest woman in the world." Lillie made her West End debut in 1914 and went on to become a huge star in revues, on radio, in television, films, and one-woman shows. Her charm, wit, and liveliness made her an international sensation.

This caricature depicts Lillie in the title role of Auntie Mame by Jerome Lawrence and Robert E. Lee. The show played at Oxford New Theatre in August of 1958.

Gilbert Sommerlad (1904-1976), a rehearsal pianist and orchestral violinist for over forty years often sketched the stars on stage when he wasn’t needed in the orchestra pit. This drawing of Lillie is his handiwork. Over the decades, thankfully, Sommerlad complied his sketches in a series of albums, preserving them for posterity.

Drawing of the Day: An Invitation for Bachelor's Lodge, 1820-25

Click Image to Enlarge
Invitation to Bachelors Lodge
Edward Hull, 1820-25
The British Museum

Here’s an interesting drawing by the celebrated early Nineteenth Century illustrator and watercolorist Edward Hull. Dating between 1820 and 1825, it’s an invitation to “The Bachelor’s Lodge.” I’ve been doing some hunting and I can’t seem to figure out what exactly “The Bachelor’s Lodge” was, but I’m guessing it was a university gathering place for young men. I don’t suggest doing a search of “bachelor’s lodge” by the way. The results are not helpful.

The design depicts Mr Punch carrying enormous punch-bowl on his head. I think Mr. Punch would enjoy doing that. I don’t think, however, he’d be willing to serve the punch once he carried it. Most likely, he’d dump the whole thing on someone and smash the bowl over their head.

Drawing of the Day: A Ball Scene, c. 1595-1605

A Ball Scene
Jacob Matham, 1595-1605
Crown Copyright
The Royal Collection
Image Courtesy of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II

This work of pen and brown ink is finished with a wash of brown and grey and touches of red and white chalk to add depth. The sketch is attributed to Jacob Matham (1571-1631) and it was acquired by King George III (1738-1820) around 1810, about two hundred years after it was created.

The scene depicts a Renaissance-style room inhabited by an elegant party engaged in an elegant dance. As this is likely a cartoon for a later painting, the sketch is somewhat rough and displays a rather inconsistent perspective.

The drawing has long been the subject of much interest, in large part because of the rather eerie appearance of some of the figures. Their ghostly look, it was discovered, owes to over-painting which changed their position—their original poses bleeding through the white gouache which was used to cover them.

There’s also a problem with the signature. While the piece is signed by Matham, it is also inscribed, “Venice (vinetia), 1605.” This is problematic in that, in 1605, Matham was in Haarlem. He visited Venice in 1595, not 1605. Furthermore, the room in the composition is clearly not Venetian.

Also, the size of the piece is not consistent with Matham’s other works.

For these reasons, some question the veracity of the attribution to Matham. Still, it’s likely that the artist produced the piece ten years after his Venetian trip in an effort to remember what he’d seen as well as to capitalize on the growing popularity of ballroom scenes.